Twiggy in the Olay advert that, it was ruled, could give consumers a 'misleading impression of the effect the product could achieve'

A magazine ad for an Olay beauty product featuring Twiggy has been banned by the advertising watchdog, after more than 700 complaints gathered for a campaign against airbrushing in ads by the Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson.

In the ad, Twiggy, who also fronts Marks & Spencer's TV campaigns, promotes the Procter & Gamble-owned Olay Definity eye illuminator. Her picture appears next to the words: "Olay is my secret to brighter-looking eyes."

"Because younger-looking eyes never go out of fashion ... reduces the look of wrinkles and dark circles for brighter, younger-looking eyes," the ad continued.

In addition Swinson forwarded more than 700 complaints, gathered via her anti-airbrushing web campaign, that the ad had was not only misleading but also socially irresponsible, because it could have a "negative impact on people's perceptions of their own body image".

In its ruling, the ASA said that it considered that the post-production retouching of the original ad, specifically in the eye area, could give consumers a "misleading impression of the effect the product could achieve".

A combination of the retouching and the language of the ad was likely to mislead consumers, it ruled.

However, the ASA rejected the complaints that the ad was socially irresponsible, saying: "We considered that consumers were likely to expect a degree of glamour in images for beauty products and would therefore expect Twiggy to have been professionally styled and made-up for the photo shoot, and to have been photographed professionally.

"We concluded that, in the context of an ad that featured a mature model likely to appeal to women of an older age group, the image was unlikely to have a negative impact on perceptions of body image among the target audience and was not socially irresponsible."

P&G said that there would "always be differences between uncomplimentary paparazzi shots and professional beauty photographs".

The company argued that an article in a national newspaper, which featured Twiggy "off-duty" in the Olay ad, may have prompted the complaints.

P&G added that it was "routine practice to use post-production techniques to correct for lighting and other minor photographic deficiencies before publishing the final shots as part of an advertising campaign".

The company said that there had been some "minor retouching" around Twiggy's eyes, which was inconsistent with its own policies; this had already prompted it to withdraw the original ad and replace with one in which there was no post-production work around the eyes.

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